Natural Therapies

Just wondering about the possibilities and helping qualities of using natural therapies to help with strains, performance anxiety, general stress by using massage, reflexology, aromatherapy, reiki on musicians.

Is this something that you think would be of benefit or is it a load of baloney?

People are interested in 'new age' therapies as an alternative to pills and potions. What are your thoughts, would you give it a shot?

Those that know me at Wem will know that i have suffered With nerves, and anxiety for upto a week before a contest.

For the contest at the wekend i decided to take the bull by the horns and try something to help me out. so i went to see my chineese doctor to see what she could do to help (ive been having accupuncture for the autheritus in my knees anyway).

She told me that there are lots of people that come in and have cupuncture for nerves so i decided to give it a go.

i went in on the friday before the contest, and within minuets of having the needles placed, i felt so relaxed i axctually fell asleep! throughout the weekend and including the conttest on the sunday my nerves were completely held in check. i did feel some slight nerves during the performance, but i felt that this was only natural.

I went in on the friday before the contest, and within minuets of having the needles placed, i felt so relaxed i axctually fell asleep! throughout the weekend and including the conttest on the sunday my nerves were completely held in check. i did feel some slight nerves during the performance, but i felt that this was only natural.

So do i feel it helped? to right!!

Its now something i intend to do before every contest.

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For those of us who were sitting in the audience watching Wem, I can vouch for this. I never saw a twinge of nerves from Super Sop, in fact all I could see was a great big cheesy grin from ear to ear throughout the performance.

Just wondering about the possibilities and helping qualities of using natural therapies to help with strains, performance anxiety, general stress by using massage, reflexology, aromatherapy, reiki on musicians.

Is this something that you think would be of benefit or is it a load of baloney?

People are interested in 'new age' therapies as an alternative to pills and potions. What are your thoughts, would you give it a shot?

I'm doing some research and would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks

Alex Kerwin

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Greetings Alex

Putting my medical / nursing hat on , I have to say I am a bit sceptical as to whether most "alternative" therapies stand up to any serious scientific investigation ( accupuncture may be different as the "points" stimulated in traditional accupuncture correspond to many of the bodies nerve pathways and junctions , and the emerging literature would suggest that a degree of pain relief / symptom control can be gained from accupuncture ).

Having said that , in my experience , patients that use alternative therapies regularly always testify to the positive effects they have mentally and to a certain extent spiritually after undergoing these treatments - for example , in the case of cancer patients , the therapies will have no effect on the underlying progression of the disease , but enable the patient to face their illness in a lot more positive frame of mind and cope with side effects of chemo / radiotherapy a lot better - to this extent you could argue that the therapies used have done their job. It could be argued that this is due to the placebo effect (I want it to work so its going to work , whether or not there is any active ingredient involved).

I work for University College London Hospitals , and one of the hospitals in our group is The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital , which specialises in complementary / alternative therapies ( i believe one of very few within the NHS that does ).You can access their website via http://uclhweb/main.asp . Failing that , send me a pm / e mail and I'll see if I can put you in touch with anyone over there that can be of more help.

I find a bottle of Rescue Remedy in my horn case often comes in handy for those angst moments.
Also try deep breathing exercises just before you go on.
I'm a big fan of alternative remedies and one of the biggest proofs for me that things like acupuncture can work is the fact that it doesn't always work for me. It does depend very much on the practitioner you go to and how you form a relationship with them.
Daft Hippy Badger...
xx